How do I prepare for my next role while I'm still employed?

You are not leaving yet. But you want to be ready when the next move comes, whether that is a promotion, a new role somewhere else, or your own practice one day. What should you be doing now?

The answer is less dramatic than updating your CV every month. It is evidence.

What I saw from the reward side

I was Head of Technology HR at Credit Suisse, then technology reward at UBS, where I sat in the rooms where reviews get argued. Your bonus and salary increase are decided without you: your line manager forms a view of your year, then argues for it against other managers making the case for their own people.

The case that lands is the one with specific examples. What was going on, what had to change, what the person did, and what it delivered.

The examples exist. By December, the detail has gone: the number, the deadline, the problem you fixed in March. So people walk into a review, or an interview, describing their year in adjectives.

People reach for their job title

People struggle to articulate the value they really bring to the table. In a review, an interview or a first client conversation, they reach for their job title. A title says where you sat. It does not say what you did, or what changed because of it.

I did not build my own options until I needed them. I left in 2025 and started from zero. Preparing while you are still employed is the version I would choose now.

What to do while you are still employed

1. Once a month, write down what you decided, fixed or delivered, and what changed because of it. Ten minutes, while it is fresh.
2. Write down who came to you, and for what. That list is what people would pay you for, inside or outside.
3. Keep in touch with a few people on purpose: one conversation a month with someone you worked well with.
4. Pick a goal for twelve months from now, and check every quarter whether what you are doing points at it.

After a year you have a case: for your review, for an interview, or for the offer you build.

Your next step

I built the Optionality Vault for exactly this. A private monthly record of your work, your network and your goal, about ten minutes a month, with a quarterly report on how your case is developing and where it is weakest. CHF 99 a year, with a full refund in the first 30 days.

If you are already in a live decision about your next role, The Next Move is where I help one to one.